Moments Singular
by inkvoices
Summary: It starts with the moment that Torchwood Twelve hires the crew of Serenity for a job.  Jack/Kaylee.


**Author Note: **Originally posted at torchwood_fest on livejournal for their Post Christmas Blues Fest, for the prompt _Jack/Kaylee, Jack charmed his way onto Serenity. Can he charm his way off? _With thanks to C for the beta and putting up with my style experiments.

**Rating/Warnings: **this fic contains sexing, swearing, and, um, non-fatal character death

* * *

><p><span>Moments; Singular<span>

"Life is made up of moments," Jack says into the quiet.

He rolls over onto his back and closes his eyes against the coloured fairy lights strung up above the bed. He imagines that he's sunbathing under them, soaking up their light and storing it against a future darkness.

~8~

This is the moment that he hires a crew for a job.

He flashes his most charming smile at the Captain and then turns it on the First Mate, who has a gun strapped to her thigh that Jack envies.

Orla delivers fresh drinks to their table and Jack gifts her with the smile as well. She rolls her eyes at him fondly before returning to her post behind the bar.

Torchwood Three hid behind a tourist office and Torchwood Twelve hides behind a bar. He likes to think that they get more interesting people showing up on their doorstep these days. To be fair though, they're not hiding on this tiny moon at the tail end of the 'verse so much as keeping out of the way. Certain kinds of people know this is a place to come if they're after a job and if they don't get a job, well, the drinks aren't bad even if it's a long way to come for one.

The locals don't mind. The bar brings in business and, apparently, Torchwood brings entertainment. The first time he'd heard someone swearing at him about Torchwood (as he sped past on a Mule in hot pursuit of a blowfish on horseback) they'd been laughing. Stories about their more public exploits are gossiped about for long after, but never in front of off-worlders, and Jack's okay with that. Torchwood is, on occasion, hilarious and it's nice to have the locals on their side.

There isn't a team and Jack isn't in charge of anyone. There's just him and Rex. Sometimes John Hart shows up, but they never let him near the good stuff. Then there's Orla, Janice, Mei-Lien, and Evans who work the bar.

The rest of the time they hire a crew to do the jobs that need doing.

One of them – Jack or Rex, never John ever again – will ship out with them the first time that they're hired. If they do all right then they'll get hired again. At the moment there are three ships and an ex-Companion working for Torchwood Twelve on a permanent basis.

Jack likes the adventures and if anything goes wrong he doesn't have to worry about it, because he's not responsible for anyone. Rex, on the other hand, works better with fewer people and best when it's just him and a partner (who isn't John), so usually it's Jack that gets to go on these trial runs.

Jack can see that this Captain Reynolds doesn't like the idea, but it's not optional and it seems that the man does really want the job.

He exchanges glances with his First Mate and the girl sitting on his other side, then folds his arms and says, "I don't take orders on my own ship."

Jack holds his hands up in a submissive gesture and makes sure that he's still dressed in his most charming smile.

"Hey, no, I wouldn't be in charge. I just tag along, see how you handle things."

"You ain't on my crew. You get killed, not my problem."

"He won't," says the girl, sounding very definite about it. "Not permanently."

"Right." The Captain pinches the bridge of his nose. "Fine. You get beat up or kidnapped or married to a woman of murderous intent, also not my problem. You are not my problem. At all. Got it?"

Jack nods and smiles.

The charm never fails.

~8~

"I didn't used to think of time in terms of moments," says Jack, keeping his eyes closed because it's easier to talk about this that way. "I used to keep track of it in periods. Like the Bronze Age, the Industrial Revolution, the Leaving. You know?"

This is when he was a Time Agent, this is when he travelled with the Doctor and Rose, when Torchwood Three was led by Alex, when it was led by Jack. This is when.

"The problem is that they always come to an end and it, well, I don't get a lot of good endings and they sort of spoil everything that come before them."

They're like a trail of blood in the waters of memory those endings, clouding the better times and sometimes attracting sharks.

"If I break time up smaller though then I feel like I can enjoy the good times. It's not as if the bad times aren't there anymore, but they don't bleed into the good."

This is when he rescued Rose from a barrage balloon, this is the first time he went Weevil hunting with Ianto, the look on Gwen's face when she walked in with that pizza, helping to fly the TARDIS.

Moments are better; singular points in time.

~8~

This is the first time that Jack sleeps with Kaylee.

He's been flirting with everyone, but no one's taken offence. He'd thought at first that they were just used to it since they had a Companion on board, but whilst Inara Serra is friendly with the rest of the crew she never flirts with them.

Every Companion (and ex-Companion) that Jack has ever met changes their face, becomes someone else over and over, and not just for their clients. They're taught young and it sticks. Jack, who has had some similar training in the past, has honed his skills watching them, but however much he watches Inara only has one face.

She never flirts, but no one takes offence.

He wonders if that's why she's here on _Serenity_, because she never has to be anything but herself. He wonders if she changes for her clients. He wonders when she decided on her own rules.

"Good morning," Jack says to her as she walks past him to the dining room, cheerfully but making sure he doesn't convey any meaning other than the words themselves.

Inara pauses and raises a delicate eyebrow as she considers him. Then she smiles at him for the first time since he came on board and carries on walking.

Jack likes making people smile and it feels strange to do so wearing his own face and _because_ he's wearing his own face, but he thinks that it's something he could get used to.

It's warm in the engine room and he whistles as he enters, adding to the welcoming sounds of the sub-ethereal hub ticking over and Kaylee fiddling with a moderating box.

"What're you up to?" he asks, peering over her shoulder.

It's a long time since he's seen anyone as good at (and who loves) tech as much as Kaylee. The engine room and her distillery are an education, even for him.

"Oh, hello you," she says, twisting her head around. She touches her fingers to the corner of his lips leaving behind the taste of machine oil and the smell of warm metal. "You look better when you smile like that, more real."

"I'm not staying," he says, both a reminder and a warning, because no one's taken offence at his flirting but Kaylee is the only who has been flirting back.

"Nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, is there?"

~8~

A finger rubs out the frown lines on his forehead, travels down the length of his nose, traces the shape of his lips, and continues its journey down to his heart where Kaylee rests the palm of her hand.

"I know what it feels like to hurt," she tells him.

Jack opens his eyes because it feels like a betrayal not to look at her with undivided attention when she speaks in that tone of voice.

"I told you about Wash and Book. Haven and all those people…"

She has. She's told him about Haven burning and the bodies of children, cast aside and glowing in the firelight like their souls were dancing on their skin unable to leave for the pain. She's told him about Wash and Book, all the silences that they've left behind. She's told him about Mal and Zoe with their hard eyes and war stories, River ripped from her home and Simon ripping himself from his home to save her, and about herself, being shot and feeling useless.

He lifts a hand up to cover hers, holding her against his heart, and she moves closer, curling up against his side.

"Life's full of all kinds of feelin's and the bad kind don't cancel out the good."

~8~

This is a time that he gets shot.

The job is a straightforward theft. A man with more money than sense has something that Jack feels he really shouldn't have. He doesn't want to draw attention to it by trying to buy it and he's laid down a few conditions (like preferably no killing) that Mal had seemed fine with, then the Captain had sat down with his crew and they'd come up with a plan.

Inara is currently attending a garden party at the back of the main building with an unwitting client, tasked with keeping an eye on the owner. Mal and Zoë are in the owner's Private Collection taking a few things that'll fetch a good price on the market without making too much noise, which is the crew's payment along with the credits Torchwood paid upfront. Kaylee is in her engine room, poised to fire up _Serenity_ as soon as they're ready to leave.

Jayne, Simon, Jack, and River are meant to be liberating a vortex manipulator from the Extra Private Collection, which is essentially a large vault. The breaking in part has gone fine, but the breaking out is causing some difficulty. The Governor might not know what it is that he has but he's sure keen on keeping it if the security personnel shooting at them is any indication.

Jayne shoves the vault door with his shoulder until it's halfway closed and then uses it to hide behind whilst he fires back.

Jack falls to the floor and gets on with dying, which happens fairly fast with a bullet in his chest.

He wakes up with Simon kneeling next to him. The doctor blinks, then wipes blood off his hand onto his own shirt before putting two cool fingers to Jack's neck and taking his pulse.

"So he's dead, so what?" Jayne is saying. "Don't see why we had to bring Pretty Boy along anyhow."

"Condition of the job," Jack replies as he sits up and the look on larger man's face is priceless.

"Told you it wouldn't stick," says River dreamily as she hands Jayne a grenade.

Simon presses down on Jack's shoulder to keep him sitting and peers into his eyes, presumably checking pupil dilatation. It gives Jack an opportunity to stare back and whilst there's a hint of shock in Simon's gaze it's only a hint.

"You're taking this rather calmly," says Jack.

"My sister is psychic."

He prods at Jack's chest where there's no longer any sign of damage, except to Jack's t-shirt.

"Is there anything that helps with the pain?"

"Sorry, what?"

Jack smiles and tries to shuffle backwards a bit. Simon gives him a look that Jack's never been able to master that he swears doctors must get taught at some secret initiation thing. It's a look that just can't be argued with, that says that Simon _knows_ that coming back hurts him and that's that.

He tightens his hold on Jack's shoulder, squeezing gently, and Jack can feel the warmth of it seeping through his t-shirt, through his skin, and down into the muscle, which slowly relaxes.

"So, touch then," says Simon in the same way he might say 'stitches'. "Anything else?"

"Warm is good," Jack manages to reply, "and not waking up in a morgue."

"Grenades'll get us more attention than we can handle," says Jayne, arguing with River as he reloads his gun.

River pulls a small pistol from Jayne's ankle holster and uses his shoulder to balance on as she leans around the open vault door and shoots.

"Psychic?" says Jack.

"Have you told Kaylee?" says Simon. "About your…not dying?"

Jack shakes off Simon's hand and gets to his feet.

"Tell her," says Simon as he stands up as well, "or I will."

There's a loud explosion from the other side of the vault door, which sounds an awful lot like a grenade just went off.

"We're leaving now," says River and they do.

~8~

Jack rolls over again so that he's facing Kaylee, so that he can kiss her. She nibbles on his bottom lip, runs her tongue over his teeth, kisses the corner of his mouth like she's bestowing a prayer; her mouth plays with him and has sex with him and makes love to him.

The fairy lights illuminate her face when she finally pulls away for air, which Jack didn't realise he needed as well until that point because he'd forgotten how to breathe.

"I love you," Kaylee tells him.

He doesn't hesitate to say it back.

~8~

This is the moment that he gets The Talk.

"I know," he says, "if I hurt her, you'll shoot me."

Mal keeps one hand on the ship's yoke as he turns to Jack with what can only be called an evil smile.

"I'll let Zoë do the shootin'," he says. "She's been itchin' to apparently. Then I'll let Jayne beat you around a bit, Inara can be all manner of mean at you, and heck, the doctor needs some practice at hurtin' folks. He can have a go too. _Then_ I'll throw you out the airlock and you can die in agony, as many times as you like."

"Everybody likes Kaylee," says River from the co-pilot's seat and the look that accompanies those words is far more threatening than anything Mal could deliver.

"I like her too." Jack rolls his eyes and shoves his hands in his pockets, refusing to be intimidated. "I'm leaving when we get back to Torchwood though. I said that at the start."

"Yeah," says Mal, turning back to _Serenity_'s controls. "Just remember: pain and agony."

~8~

Jack keeps his hand on top of Kaylee's as she moves it away from his heart to roam across his chest. She kisses across his jaw and down his neck, then scrapes her teeth across one nipple whilst her clever fingers tease the other.

"I love you," she says again, tattooing the words into the skin over his heart with her breath.

Jack cups her face in both hands and brings her closer so that he can kiss her again. He presses his lips gently against hers in one kind of promise and then fucks her mouth with his tongue in another.

That drags a noise from the back of her throat and she rolls on top of him, her skin against his for the full length of them, to pull a similar noise from him. Jack runs his hands down her sides and back up again. They fit together so easily parts made for each other and this. He grips her hips as she lifts herself up and then slides down onto his cock.

Their tongues are urgent want and need, but she moves in a slow rise and fall above him. He brings his knees up and encourages her to lean back against them, following her mouth with his as she sits up until he has a lap full of Kaylee.

The coloured lights dance in her eyes and play across her face as she brings them both closer and closer to the edge.

"I love you," he tells her as he strokes a thumb across her clit and kisses her until she flies apart, taking him with her.

~8~

This is when he walks away.

Jack manages to persuade the crew into the bar for a drink, because the charm never fails, and he asks Kaylee to come with him whilst he puts the vortex manipulator somewhere safe. He wants to see the look on her face as she walks downstairs into Torchwood Twelve and he isn't disappointed. She lights up and it's glorious.

She's fascinated by the tech, just as he knew she would be, and she fires off question after question.

"Just don't touch anything," he says as he processes the vortex manipulator and secures it in the 'Very Bad Idea' section of the archives.

"What about this?" she asks, pointing at something pink that's currently in pieces on one of the workbenches in the main room.

"That's an alien baby monitor, believe it or not," says Rex.

He emerges from the small kitchenette drying his hands on a florescent green tea towel that looks like something John probably acquired to annoy the rest of them.

"Really?" Kaylee peers at it and reaches out a finger to touch it, before pulling back and giving Jack a sheepish grin as she clasps her hands behind her back.

"And you are?"

"This is Kaylee," says Jack, flinging his arms out towards her in a theatrical introductory gesture. "Kaylee Frye of _Serenity_."

"Rex," he says, holding out a hand for her to shake. "Of Torchwood Twelve, obviously. Excuse us for a minute?"

"Sure."

Jack touches the back of her wrist with his fingers. She smiles at him and goes back up the stairs into the bar.

"So, job went okay then?" says Rex.

"Yeah." Jack rubs the back of his neck and grins. "Well, I got shot, but other than that everything went fine. It was a vortex manipulator after all."

"Active?"

"No, the power source seems to have died."

"And is that bad or good?" asks Rex in a carefully neutral tone of voice.

"I've sold my soul to Torchwood," says Jack, rolling his eyes. "I'm staying."

"You're more of a leaving and then coming back type."

Rex crosses his arms and perches on the edge of the workstation, grinning as he stretches out his legs.

"What?" says Jack, frowning at him.

"She's from the crew that did the Miranda thing, yeah?"

"That's the one."

"Yeah." Rex laughs. "Good look with that."

"With what?"

"Oh, come on! You're looking at her like she's your new – what does John call it? Eye candy? Giving her the recruitment spiel, showing her the shiny toys, showing off. But she's not for recruiting, is she? She's a package deal and I bet you _like_ the package. Sounds to me like she's the one that did the recruiting."

"I go on the first job with each crew we hire, that's it."

Jack folds his own arms, musters a glare, and tries to forget how being on _Serenity_ felt like all the best parts of being a team again, like the best days of Torchwood or travelling with the Doctor and Rose.

"Look," says Rex, the amusement fading from his face, "are we hiring them again?"

"Yes. So?"

"So that makes them Torchwood, technically, so why not go with them?"

"Because – "

"Actually," says Rex, cutting him off, "no, forget that. I'm _ordering_ you to go with them."

"You're not in charge," Jack protests.

"Neither are you." Rex smirks and stands up properly, tossing the tea towel at Jack's head. "That's another one of your rules. Which one are you going to break?"

~8~

"I love you," he tells her and it's a perfect moment.

~8~

"I only ship out once with a crew that we hire," says Jack.

"I know, you said."

Kaylee twines her hands around his necks and rises up onto her tiptoes to pull him in for a kiss.

"Just once," he says against her lips and then, "Just once more."

She beams at him and it's almost blinding as she grabs his hand and drags him up the ramp into _Serenity_, Mal looking smug as he closes the bay doors behind them.

This is when he starts thinking of his life in moments, in fragments that form a whole, rather than periods of time that are messy constructs and never fit together comfortably. There isn't a time when he was on this ship, but there is a first time he was on this ship and a next time and maybe even a time after that.

There are moments; singular. Just once and just once more.


End file.
